Is Dr. Amy Acton realistic as candidate for the Democratic US Senate?
I don’t understand why not.
She made her name for herself in the first half of 2020 as Director of the Department of Health under Governor Mike DeWine. She was a calming, authoritative, and relatable figure in DeWine’s daily COVID-19 updates on television. She may be able to incorporate this into a campaign for the soon-to-be-open US Senate seat in Ohio.
Consider:
- She’s closest to a folk hero the Ohio Democrats have had since John Glenn, who was in a class of his own.
- Your supporters have a Dr. Amy Acton created a fan page on Facebook that has and counts nearly 125,000 followers.
- Her Twitter account has nearly 53,000 followers without ever posting a single tweet.
- What other contestant had her own bobblehead before even declaring a run?
- She had thousands of little girls (and presumably her parents) across the state videotaping themselves in their white lab coats, saying that when they grow up, like Dr. Want to be amy.
- Prominent Democrats have told me that Acton votes very well in potential encounters in both a Democratic primary and a general election.
- According to some senior Democrats who saw the numbers in an organized job survey, their name identity is very high. and that’s always a good thing. You don’t have to spend a lot of time introducing yourself to the voters.
“Yes, she is a viable candidate,” said David Niven, professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati.
Some Democrats wonder if Acton has the stomach for a tough primary fight and an even tougher general election campaign.
After all, she quit her job as director of the Department of Health last June after pressure from Republicans in the Ohio General Assembly that she was too adamant in putting restrictions on Ohioans in order to contain the tide of COVID-19.
She was tired and unsettled by COVID deniers who marched outside her Columbus suburb, often carrying firearms.
Who could accuse them of getting out of this mess? Would you like armed protesters to gather on your doorstep?
So she left the Ohio Ministry of Health and worked for the Columbus Foundation’s Child Columbus Initiative. She left that job last week to, she said, “think carefully” about running for the Senate.
Of course, there is already a legitimate Democratic candidate for the Senate seat in Trumbull County’s Rep. Tim Ryan who has been in the US House since 2003. Ryan, who made a short-lived presidential bid in 2019, is raising funds and organizing support for a Senate campaign.
But, as Niven pointed out, Ryan is barely a household name outside of his northeast Ohio territory.
“In Tim Ryan, you had someone running for president without raising his name in Ohio,” said Niven. “That’s hard to do.” How many Cincinnati Democrats do you think could pick him out of a crowd? ”
“There’s a shortage of star power in the Ohio Democratic Party,” said Niven. “That opens the door for people like (Acton).”
Ryan is not a push over, however. He will have a lot of support from organized work; and Hillary Clinton has made it clear that she would like him to replace Republican Senator Rob Portman, who is not running for a third term.
Acton clearly has the support of Connie Schultz, an influential columnist and wife of the state’s highest Democratic elected official, Senator Sherrod Brown. Brown has publicly said he will remain neutral in elementary school.
As someone who made her career outside of politics, Acton “hasn’t had 20 years of (congressional) votes for the other side to criticize”.
If she runs she will find out that being a statewide candidate in Ohio isn’t easy, especially Ohio, where the GOP dominates the statewide offices.
“I wonder what will happen when she sits down with some political professionals who tell her to prepare to spend 90 percent of your time raising money for the next two years,” Niven told You Must Raising $ 40 million. She may not want that. ”
Niven said his best guess was that Acton was not running for the Senate.
“But if she does,” he said, “I wouldn’t bet against her in elementary school.”
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